When was the last time you had your family portrait done? Preserve those precious memories with a family mini session. For only $200 you will receive a 30 minute portrait session, 5 digital images with a print release, custom timeline cover, and a 5×7 print of your favorite image. Additional prints and products are available for purchase.

Offer good through February 28, 2015. Session fee must be paid in full to hold your date.

I’ve been a bit behind on blogging, and when I say a bit I mean the little bundle of joy in her belly has been born and is now three months old…oops!! This Ann Arbor maternity session took place this past summer and life just got in the way of posting it. However, I’m catching up and I’m really excited to finally be sharing these maternity portraits with all of you. Tabbatha was such a radiant mom-to-be and a natural in front of the camera. I loved how carefree she was and open to trying some new things that I had been wanting to work on. To date I think these are some of my favorite maternity photos I’ve done.

I’d love to find a courageous mom that would be willing to let me play around like this in the winter. If you’re that brave soul, don’t hesitate, give me a call 734.707.7667.

Canning is always something I’ve wanted to learn how to do. I love the way the little jars look when they’re lined up in the pantry and being able to have delicious fruits and veggies all year long. Luckily, a good friend of mine knows how to can and is an incredible teacher (now only if she had a student that could follow instructions lol). Every time I have ever tried to cook something, I mess up at least one step or measurement, completely not on purpose! Well, this time of course was no different, I didn’t buy enough raspberries, but thankfully my friend had a couple extra packages on hand, what a lifesaver! So with all right in the canning world again, we were able to make some super delicious raspberry jam. The whole process was so much easier than I would have ever imagined it to be. Now I just want to can everything! I think my next two canning projects are going to be strawberry jam and apple butter. Those two are my favorite! I have seen a book called Food in Jars by Marisa McClellan which I will be picking up soon because those recipes in there sound delectable, plus they’re all done in small batches. She recently released another book called Preserving by the Pint which I may buy as well.

The recipe we used was the one that comes in the pack of Sure Jell, which they know what they’re talking about so why reinvent the wheel?! The ingredients are listed below:

4 pints of raspberries

7 cups of sugar

1 box of Sure Jell

All together, the batch we made yielded 9 half pint jars of jam. The process was fairly simple as well, you start by mashing up all the raspberries. You can strain out the seeds if you’d like with some cheesecloth, but because I didn’t buy enough we left a decent amount in which is fine because it still tastes delicious! Put that in a pot and bring to a rolling boil, then add the sugar while stirring continuously for 1 minute. Take off the heat and put the jam into the jars. The jar prep is an easy process as well which involves boiling the jars, rings, and seals to make sure they’re sterilized and hot enough to seal. It’s that simple, I can’t wait to can some more!

Being a dance photographer has always been a dream of mine. Dancers know their bodies, are very aware of their spatial presence, and just move flawlessly in front of the camera. It’s like magic, I love that they’re able to create movement even in a still image. For awhile now I’ve been coming up with a dance inspired shoot, but hadn’t had the right person. I first saw Kyla when she came into Paper Source. Immediately I was drawn to her look and wanted to photograph her, so I asked if she’d be willing to model. Luckily, she agreed and after talking for a bit I found out she was a dancer. Perfect! I still had the rented 70-300mm at the time of the session (I tried to plan a session for every day I had it), and I was really thankful that we both had time to squeeze the dance photos in before I had to return it.

The park we went to, Island Park, I had only seen from a kayak while on the Huron River, but I was able to do a little searching and found out how to get there by land. There’s this adorable little building with some great pillars, I couldn’t wait to photograph there! Kyla was such a trooper too, I had her doing jumps over and over again to get just the right angle. It definitely payed off! These images are some of my favorites that I’ve created, not to mention it was fun to just photograph with no pressure on getting things right. It’s always good to just let the creativity flow uninterrupted once in awhile. I would love to do another dance session, but next time I think I want to make a long dress for it so there’s even more movement…maybe I’ll plan it for the fall!

It’s because of clients like these two that adore being an Ann Arbor pet photographer. These senior gals were excellent, well-seasoned models. The treats I had might have helped a little with that, but even when they were all gone they still listened like angels. We met up in their backyard, which had the most gorgeous landscaping, and they loved traipsing through the shrubs. Becky and Jodi were naturals in front of the camera and their aged faces added so much character to their portraits. Becky was the more independent one, she went exploring through the yard and couldn’t care less what her mom and I were doing. Jodi on the other hand was a lover, she followed the two of us around demanding attention and giving kisses. With those eyes it didn’t take very long before she got her way.